{"product_id":"almost-heaven-9798893895070","title":"Almost Heaven","description":"\u003cem\u003eAlmost Heaven\u003c\/em\u003e was originally titled Ballengee. I wrote during the early 80s while driving an eighteen-wheeler across the fruited plain of America and Canada. The characters of Almost Heaven are based on my memories of folks I knew while spending time with my summer parents on the farm in Ballengee, West Virginia. My Summer parents were named Lester and Fonda Lively. Ballengee was a farming and dairy country filled with unique folks. I started going there in 1954 and continued each summer until 1965. I always thought fiction was born of truth, and I filled Ballengee with fictitious characters from impressions of the folks I met there. The storyteller of the work never revealed his name, but if he had, it would have been Ragamuffin. It was a name given to me by Lester when asked who the little boy was hanging around him in the summer. Lester said, \"Why, he is my Ragamuffin.\" Ballengee is a real place, and I turned it into a small town filled with interesting folks who made it Almost Heaven.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Arpress","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50872261706002,"sku":"9798893895070","price":11.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_cd2234ab-bd7c-4857-b072-2da0644913e7.jpg?v=1737892079","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/almost-heaven-9798893895070","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}